WellingtonWestover

The beach near Eastbourne Village / Days Bay It's been a while since my last blog post.  Simply, our day-to-day lives are pretty boring -- certainly not worth blogging about. :(  It's a pretty consistent routine of "Morning Coffee Editions" followed by work, then dinner, then some manner of Netflix binging, cribbage, reading...  Lately, we've taken up Orphan Black on a near-binge basis (pretty good), I've watched Luke Cage Season 2 (way better than season one with a lot of great music and acting performances).  Would I watch it if Jenna wasn't working there? Yep.  It's worth watching. Next up is G.L.O.W. season 2, another place Jenna works. Last season started off "meh" and finished really strong so I am stoked to start my G.L.O.W. sessions. 11 EMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS, WOW!!!! Last weekend we ventured outside of Wellington. We don't have a car yet so just going for a drive isn't something we do. Right outside of our building is a...

Southern Right Whale - stole this photo The Southern Right Whale is a rare occurrence in Wellington Harbour.  In fact, one only shows up every decade or so.... how lucky for us that one decided to hang around during our first week in the new place!  All of Welly is abuzz with the sighting with people lining the harbour to get a view of this beauty.  It's been here for three days, though I haven't spotted him today.  They are about 50ft long and weigh a remarkable 47 tonnes.  They are also considered to be one of the most promiscuous mammals on the planet as evidenced by the size of their testicles.  At 500kg (1,100 lb.) the sheer size indicates sperm competition within the species.  The Northern and Southern Right Whales are very similar though DNA testing reveals that they are unique species (subclass of Balin) and have not interbred in 12 million years. I guess that makes them racist and whorish? It was great fun watching them, having people co...

Photo is not from New Zealand I readily admit that my perception is probably skewed because: a.) I live in the middle of the city, b.) I have relocated from a much larger city, c.) it is the beginning of winter, and, d.) I’ve only been here one month. Still, these are things I notice about Wellington… 1.) If you are a woman heading to work here you are wearing black tights / leggings and black half boots. Everyone might be a stretch, but 90% seems about right. Wear them as pants, under a skirt of dress… they are everywhere. 2.) Young children are really rare. In the month I’ve been here I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 children in a pram, more than 50 children total. 3.) Dogs are even rarer than children. I’ve never seen a cat. 4.) Negative signs. There are street signs, signs for businesses, informational signs… There are not signs with “WARNING” or “DO NOT DO XXXX” or even “NO” plastered everywhere.   The only exception would be...

The traditional greeting of the Maori people I borrowed heavily from online resources to present this brief capsule about the Maori people of New Zealand. It’s a good story to read about a quality nation respecting all of the ancestry of all of the people. Hope you enjoy. The Pacific was the first ocean to be explored and settled. New Zealand, isolated far to the south, was the last substantial land mass to be reached.   Outrigger Canoes of Maori descendents It was 25,000 to 50,000 years ago when explorers first set out from Southeast-Asia on simple rafts relying on the currents (drift) to reach new destinations. These people were largely foragers and the destinations (Polynesia) they reached were settled. Thousands of years later, canoes were used to extend their reach as both their ocean vessels and navigational skills improved. Finally, outrigger canoes, some with sails, were used to reach ever further into the unknown using stars, wave patterns and ocean ...

I will never be accused of being quiet on things I feel passionately about.... this should be no exception. Did you know that 1 out of every 3 sea turtles found dead on a New Zealand beach died from eating plastic?  It seems that the bags resemble one of their favourite foods, jellyfish, and they chomp away eventually suffocating on the plastic. Did you know there are over 100 million sea animals killed each year in the ocean from plastic? Did you know that there are over 100 million tons of plastic in the ocean? I'm not telling anyone how to live their life -- do what you want, however, I think it's important for people to know the true story about plastic. Note: Plastic straws and chewing gum are two other things you can give up to help save planet earth. Great Magazine cover As long as I'm on a semi-environmental jag let's talk about cows. Cows get a bad rap for methane gas emissions, and to be clear, they burp (it isn't farting) methane gas a...

Not being shy (historically) about cheering on our teams we dove right in and embraced the All Blacks -- New Zealand's International Rugby team. Now, we are the first to admit that becoming All Blacks fans is far from a dangerous position. They are currently the first place team in the world, and arguably, the most feared and revered team there is.  I have always been an AB fan right down to insisting Brandon pick up an All Blacks jersey on his trip to NZ years ago. Julie has been slower on the uptake, understanding little about Rugby, but she is making great strides in understanding the nuances of the game and everything All Black she can google -- and let's just agree, that girl can google and google and google. All rugged and geared up for the match Step One in our All Blacks adventure was landing some tickets -- which we did, although more on that later.  We got Section 1, Row MM, seats 10 and 11 through some site called viagogo.  More on that later, howe...